Hansen Scores 21 in Win at San Diego

SAN DIEGO -- Travis Hansen poured in 21 points leading BYU to a 70-59 season-opening victory over the University of San Diego Toreros on Saturday night.

The Cougars, who ended last season in San Diego, started their 2001-2002 campaign in San Diego as well, this time against a member of the West Coast Conference. Early on, BYU struggled to get their offense going, before first-half hero Daniel Bobik jump-started the Cougars with a pair of three pointers. At the half, BYU led by only four points 27-23 and were plagued by questionable officiating.

"I've never seen a game called so closely," BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said. "Before we knew it we had five fouls, and we had to really adjust our playing style to what the officials were calling."

The Cougars overcame their foul troubles and started strong in the second half jumping out to 10-point lead, 39-29, at the 14:14 mark. True freshman Jared Jensen helped lead the charge, but soon both he and teammate Mark Bigelow found themselves with four personal fouls. With the Cougars in foul trouble, they turned to Hansen and seniors Eric Nielsen and Matt Montague to carry the scoring. Nielsen scored eight points, including six in the second half, and Montague suddenly become an offensive threat hitting several runners in the lane and collecting 11 points. But it was the defense and offensive boards that propelled BYU to victory tonight. Hansen, who had a career and game-high eight rebounds, along with Nielsen owned the glass in the second half. After trailing the Toreros in rebound the first half 18-20, BYU ended the game with a 37-31 rebounding advantage.

"We really picked up our intensity in the second half," Cleveland said. "Defensively, we were able to take them out of what they were trying to run. I think we also did a very good job at our free throw shooting, which is a real trademark of this team."

Success at the charity stripe was a key to the Cougar victory as the Cougars made 22-27 in the second half (81.5 percent) to San Diego's 9-20 (45 percent) shooting. Hansen continually got great position underneath and was repeatedly fouled. He was 9-15 from the line while shooting 6 of 11 from the field including a big jumper with 3:20 left in the game. That jumper gave BYU a ten-point lead late in the contest after San Diego looked like they may make a late rally.

BYU played solid defense and Montague did a great job of handling their full-court press as the Cougars hung on for the 11-point victory. Three Cougars scored in double figures (Bobik-12, Hansen-21, Montague-11) and shot 45 percent from the field while holding San Diego to just 34 percent shooting. Bigelow had nine points in 23 minutes in his first game since returning from his LDS mission. Cleveland earned his fifth consecutive victory in season-openers at BYU and now turns his attention to Arizona State, who the Cougars host on November 24th.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young University vs University of San Diego
11-17-01 7:00 p.m. at San Diego, CA
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VISITORS: Brigham Young University 1-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f  3-10   1-3    2-2    0  2  2   5   9  3  2  0  0  23
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f  3-7    0-0    2-2    1  6  7   2   8  0  2  0  0  38
40 HOWARD, Dan......... c  0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  1  0  0   7
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g  6-11   0-1    9-15   1  7  8   4  21  1  3  2  1  37
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g  2-5    0-1    7-8    0  2  2   3  11  8  3  0  2  38
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
12 OPUNUI, Shawn.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   1
20 BOBIK, Daniel.......    3-7    2-5    4-4    1  3  4   4  12  2  4  0  2  33
22 BALDERSON, Jimmy....    1-2    0-0    1-2    1  4  5   2   3  0  2  0  1  10
32 JEPSEN, Bart........    0-0    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   3
52 JENSEN, Jared.......    2-2    0-0    2-2    2  2  4   5   6  0  0  0  0   9
   TEAM................                         1  2  3
   Totals..............   20-44   3-10  27-35   8 29 37  27  70 14 18  2  6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 40.0%   2nd Half: 10-19 52.6%   Game: 45.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-7  28.6%   2nd Half:  1-3  33.3%   Game: 30.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-8  62.5%   2nd Half: 22-27 81.5%   Game: 77.1%    4
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HOME TEAM: University of San Diego 0-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
24 LIPPOLD, Tom........ f  3-9    0-0    4-6    0  3  3   3  10  0  0  0  1  26
53 HANSON, Kevin....... c  0-1    0-0    2-4    0  1  1   4   2  1  0  0  0  12
12 LAWS, Andre......... g  2-10   0-3    5-8    1  0  1   1   9  2  1  0  0  31
20 McGRAIN, Mike....... g  0-2    0-1    2-4    0  1  1   5   2  3  5  0  2  26
25 ADAMO, Sam.......... g  5-15   1-5    0-0    3  6  9   3  11  0  2  1  1  35
14 DELZELL, Matt.......    1-1    1-1    0-0    0  0  0   2   3  2  0  0  0  14
21 BOARDMAN, Scott.....    1-3    0-2    1-2    0  0  0   4   3  3  2  0  1  14
32 BELSER, Corey.......    0-1    0-1    1-2    1  2  3   2   1  1  1  0  1  11
34 BLAIR, Jason........    5-8    2-3    3-4    2  2  4   4  15  1  0  0  0  21
42 LEWIS, Nick.........    0-1    0-1    1-2    1  0  1   0   1  0  0  1  0   3
54 HEGARTY, Ryan.......    1-1    0-0    0-3    0  1  1   0   2  0  0  0  1   7
   TEAM................                         4  3  7
   Totals..............   18-52   4-17  19-35  12 19 31  28  59 13 11  2  7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  6-25 24.0%   2nd Half: 12-27 44.4%   Game: 34.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-11  9.1%   2nd Half:  3-6  50.0%   Game: 23.5%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-15 66.7%   2nd Half:  9-20 45.0%   Game: 54.3%    9
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Officials: Fred Carbone, Andy Rios, Sam Haddad
Technical fouls: Brigham Young University-None. University of San
Diego-None.
Attendance: 2315
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Brigham Young University......   27   43  -   70
University of San Diego.......   23   36  -   59